All posts by Axel Howerton

Axel Howerton is a former entertainment journalist, and the author of the Arthur Ellis Award nominated detective caper "Hot Sinatra", the modern gothic fairytale "Furr", and the forthcoming "Wolf & Devil" urban fantasy series. His work, including short stories, columns, poetry and essays, have appeared the world over, in no fewer than five languages. Axel is the Prairies director of the Crime Writers of Canada, and a member of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, the Calgary Crime Writers, and the Kintsugi Poets. He is also the editor of the books "Death by Drive-In", "AB Negative", and "Tall Tales of the Weird West", and is the organizer behind one of Canada's first recurring "Noir At The Bar" events, #NoirBarYYC. Visit Axel online at www.axelhow.com to sign up for the GotHow? email list and receive free exclusive ebook collections, sneak peeks, and more.#AxelHow #GotHow

#FURR cover sneaks!

My new novel Furr is in the final stages of production and launching October 27, 2016 from the good folks at Tyche Books

 Furr_poemJimmy Finn is having a real bad day. He woke up drunk and on the wrong end of a nightstick. He lost his job, and had to see his shrink. Now the cops are after him, he’s falling apart, and his only friend is a volatile drug lord. How could it get any worse?

As smoke envelopes the city, he finds himself on the run, and out of time. He’s either losing his mind, or becoming a monster. Or maybe it’s both. Jimmy Finn has one last hope. A long-buried family secret, lost above a mysterious town in the mountains, full of bizarre shadows and a strange girl that haunts his memories.

“Populated by a collection of characters you definitely want to have a drink with, but then hide in your basement while you count your fingers and toes afterward, this tale does not disappoint.”
– Robert Bose (nEvermore, AB Negative)

“Axel Howerton pens a slick stylish werewolf tale that digs in its teeth and tears at your heart. Furr has a voice that speaks to the animal in us all.”
– Sarah L. Johnson (author of Suicide Stitch: Eleven Stories)

We’re talking an Urban Fantasy/Crime Novel/homage to Gothic Fiction with flavours of everything from Twin Peaks to Supernatural, Clive Barker to Neil Gaiman. We’re talking werewolf strippers; drug-dealing voodou mojo men; goth-rock card-sharp wizards; psychic weirdness; raisin pie; Celtic myth; psychological horror; clinical lycanthropy; and a crotchety old Kootenay Indian shaman named Bob Dylan.

And I have another extra special treat for y’all… A trifecta of tasty sneak peeks at the cover art by Sean Yang.  I’ll be releasing one each on Twitter, FB and Instagram today like they were goddamn Pokemons in the wild! SO GO ON OUT AND CATCH ‘EM ALL!

These are mere snippets of the cover, featuring two characters – Jules and Emma – and a little taste of the background imagery of their ancestral home of Bensonhall – the lair of the Strong Wolves. Put them all together on your screen like a jigsaw puzzle and “snap a selfie”, as the kids say… reply to the post on any of those platforms with the pic of you having caught the whole triad (hashtag it #FURR), and I’m gonna give you a free eBook copy of the just finished – not-for-mass-consumption, GOTHOW CREW exclusive UNO MOSS!

UNO MOSS is here! GotHow?

Uno MossFCUNO MOSS, the ebook collection of my Hot Sinatra-related stories is finally here, and only available to subscribers to the GOTHOW? CREW email newsletter. I know, I know… you don’t want any more f#$%@ing emails. Look, man. I’m giving away TWO ebooks of short stories for FREE (Uno Moss and the slightly weirder, just as entertaining HowDeeDoo). And I hate writing emails as much as you hate getting them. I’m not one of these send-happy motherflippers who sends out missive after missive after missive… I’m not some Johnny-come-marketer who wants to inundate you with endless promises of gold and wealth and werewolf strippers… (well, okay, I do have ONE werewolf stripper in my new novel Furr debuting October 27 from Tyche Books, but I’m not going to send you twelve emails about it!) I just sent an email to the GOTHOW? CREW about this today. I might send one in October to show you the cover, give you another free story, introduce you to the aforementioned werewolf stripper (her name is Jules, she is quite lovely, so long as you don’t piss her off with an exorbitant number of emails… you see where I’m going with this?)
In any case… back to UNO MOSS. I have UnoMossBCherein collected all of the previously published Manlove & Kickerdick Tricks, the Moe Rossi Investigations, the what-have-yous and what-nots. There’s a brand new never-before-seen Seasonal Greeting called THE ALUMINUM EAGLE. You can’t get that shit anywhere else!  I am also un-publishing the existing Manlove & Kickerdick singles from all sales channels, and placing a moratorium on new Hot Sinatra related stuff for the foreseeable future, so unless you pick up the individual anthologies these stories originally appeared in, you are plain ol’ S.O.L., baby. Oh, and did I mention the limited edition (250 only) paperback version that will only be available at my events and appearances? You can use a GOTHOW? CREW loophole to get in on that too!

So sign up! Get all the news fit to print, but only in easily digestible, semi-annual doses that don’t overrun your mailbox or set off your bullshit meter.

Love and kisses on your pink parts,

#AxelHow (in case you’re into that whole brevity and hashtags thing)

SIGN UP FOR THE GOTHOW CREW

#AxelHow at When Words Collide!

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Delta Calgary South
135 Southland Drive SE
Calgary AB

Three days of panels, presentations and literary badassery.

#AXELHOW appearances to include:

KILL RANDY (special presentation) – 1pm Friday
Wherein I join two other authors in devising the perfect way to covertly murder Festival founder, the Duke of New York, A-Number-One, the Big Man… Randy McCharles!

Literary Leanings in Genre Fiction (panel discussion)  – 4pm Friday
A discussion of how to add literary elements to your speculative fiction.

#NOIRBARYYC – 9pm Friday (Boomtown pub)
The annual SuperNoirBar gets underway at 9PM  in the Boomtown Pub!

TYCHE BOOKS PRESENTS (Publisher Presentation)- 12pm Saturday
Including a first-look at my new novel #Furr

Publish, or publish (50 min workshop) – 2pm Saturday
My patented take on all things publishing – indie, hybrid and traditional!

Fifty Shades of Mystery (panel discussion) – 3pm Saturday
A discussion of the various strains of crime fiction with Jayne Barnard, Dwayne Clayden and Mahrie G. Reid

Autograph Session (open to the public) – 8pm Saturday
Come on by, say hello, get your books inked in person!

Mystery & Speculative Crossovers (panel discussion)  – 10am Sunday
You got genre in my mystery! You got crime in my spec-fic! Two great tastes that go great together!

Live Action Slush: Urban Fantasy (special presentation) – 1pm Sunday
Emerging writers can have their work read and critiqued by established authors in the Urban Fantasy genre

Publishers Panel: Short Fiction (panel discussion) – 2pm Sunday
Publishers and editors discussing industry trends in short fiction.

Writing From the Shadows: Noir and Hardboiled (50 min workshop)- 4pm Sunday
A one-hour intensive encapsulation of my fiction class exploring the ins and outs of hardboiled and noir fiction.

Follow hashtag #wwcyyc16 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to keep up with me and this year’s festival
Check out www.whenwordscollide.org for more details

GotClass? Writing Genre and Urban Fantasy with #AxelHow

Got Class? In the #YYC this fall? Come join one of mine! #HowToGenre gets a 2-day intensive course! Urban Fantasy for the masses!

Just added to the Alexandra Writers Centre Society program for this fall:

Writing Genre (10 Seats Available)WGwAH

Axel Howerton
October 1 & 2, 2016
10-4:30pm
Member Price: $180
Non-member Price: $240
Author, publisher and genre columnist Axel Howerton guides you through the ins and outs of writing various popular genres from Noir to SciFi, from old school styles like the traditional Western and Science Fiction, to trendy sub genres like Noir, and modern mashups like Urban Fantasy.

Urban Fantasy (10 Seats Available)WUFwAH

Axel Howerton
November 12, 2016
10-3:30pm
Member Price: $75
Non-member Price: $135
Axel Howerton – editor, publisher, genre columnist and author of the “modern gothic werewolf fable” Furr – explains the history, traditions, and definitions of the Urban Fantasy genre and teaches you how to steer your writing towards this extremely popular, and highly creative fiction style.